Slightly Stupid
by imortal-requiem
Summary: NaruxSasu in a modern highschool with a twist!
1. First Day of School

Prologue:

_(Said in a manly voice) A girlish figure walked down the hallway of an ordinary high school. Who is this strange person? Eyes to the floor, hood over head, girlish figure making every step beautiful… Oh wait. Its just Sasuke…_

**Hey! This is my first Naruto fanfic. I 3 Naruto. If you don't, then go strait to hell. Hope you like it…**

(Alarm beeps) "Waa-aah!" (Falls off bed) "God dammit! I had that dream again…" says a still sleepy Naruto. The 15-year-old boy slowly picks himself up, rubbing sore spots, and heads towards the kitchen to get some ramen.

_I keep having that dream_ Naruto thought to himself._I don't know who the fuck that guy…girl… whatever the hell is, but I keep dreaming about them -_Starts cooking ramen- _sigh. Well at least I know I'm not gay or anything. I got Sakura to thank for that _(perverted smirk).

Naruto continued to get ready for school after eating, proceeding to forget about the dream. Normally it would have had him concerned, but he'd once thought a kid at his middle school named Haku was a girl… It turned out all right if you don't mention the beating he received. Haha no seriously, he got his ass kicked.

Naruto left his apartment when he was ready, and walked down to the bus stop. The bus halted heavily and Naruto got on, smiling at the driver as he paid, and felt very nostalgic. He hadn't seen most of his friends all summer because he had been traveling with his godfather, Jaraiya.

Pulling himself back to reality, the boy looked around the bus, and spotted Kiba and Akamaru and smiled wickedly as he went to sit by his old friends.

"Yo, Kiba!" Naruto said, waving like a madman. Kiba grinned back and Akamaru let out a happy "woof". Kiba stood and the boys spared a moment to slap backs as Kiba said, "Naruto! Haven't seen you in forever. Dude, you got taller!"

The two laughed and joked as they sat down together and rode the bus to school. After getting off the bus, they were spotted almost immediately and Shino, Rock Lee, Shikamaru and Choji all came over to greet the two, particularly Naruto who no one had seen all summer.

"Naruto! Where have you been man? We haven't seen you in forever?"

"Dude, you KNOW he was with the pervert. They went on some trip in the mountains. How was it Naruto?"

"Oh it was great. We saw lots of neat stuff… I have pictures if you want to come over and see 'em some time."

"Sounds great. Say… Naruto, you still like Sakura??" A few yells went up as Naruto assured them all that he did.

Happily reunited, the group headed to their class as the first bell rang.

…

"Hello. My name is Hatake, Kakashi. I will be your teacher this year."

All the students stood to the side of the room as the strange man introduced himself.

"As some of you may have heard, I have a unique way of teaching. Rather than grading you based on your ability to do math problems or write essays, I grade you based on how well I think you will do in life after you leave my classroom."

A few moans went up, and a girl raised her hand. Kakashi raised his eyebrow and pointed to her. "A question already? Well, tell me your name and ask it."

"My name is Haruno, Sakura. So your saying that all our grades this year, even if they are all A's, don't matter if you don't think we will function well in society??"

"Exactly. Now also know that you will not be receiving individual grades either. I will be assigning you to groups of three. Your grade for each semester is an evaluation of your overall achievements as a group". Sakura's jaw dropped and a few people let out some outraged noises. Naruto walked forward, making some gestures, "This isn't fair. How the hell are we supposed to get good grades if we're paired up with an idiot?"

"Well, based on your report cards from previous years, you wont have to worry about that. It's everyone else that will worry about if they're partnered with you."

Naruto blushed and cursed as some classmates laughed, and moved back into the crowd.

"Now if you'll settle down, I'll go ahead and…"

Everyone turned and stared as the door creaked open and in walked a new student. The boy had on the same uniform as everyone else, with the jacket off, and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Backpack over his shoulder, he walked up to Kakashi and handed him a note, then went to silently stand in the corner.

"Uchiha, Sasuke…" Kakashi read aloud. "You must be the new kid."

Sasuke simply grunted.

"Alright… well you arrived just in time. Anyway, class, I will now assign groups. As you can see behind you, the desks are lined up by three per row. As I read your names, each group will sit down in a group of desks in order from top to bottom, left to right."…

"_Psst! Sakura!" -Ino_

"_What?"-Sakura_

"_See that new kid? He's damn hot. I'll bet you fifty that I can get him to ask me on a date before you!"-Ino_

"_Are you nuts!? … Ok fine, but loser pays in cash. Hinata, you want in??"-Sakura_

"_Uhh, no thank you. Ill pass."-Hinata_

"_Oh that's right. YOU like Naruto don't you!"-Ino_

"_Shhhh! Please don't be too loud!"-Hinata_

"_Why don't you just ask him out?"-Ino_

"_Ino, leave her alone."-Sakura…_

…"The first group will be…"-Kakashi…

"_Fine, sorry Hinata, but what group do you think we'll be in? I hope I'm with Uchiha!"_

_-Ino_

…"No, no, no, not there, the BACK. I said fill in the BACK first!"-Kakashi…

"_Well he's not in the first group, maybe we'll both be in a group with him!"-Sakura. The two girls proceeded to whisper and giggle._

"Group number three…"-Kakashi…

"_Dude, look! Sakura is totally checking me out!!!"(ZOMG)-Naruto_

"_Umm, if you'd like to turn your brain on at any time, you'd turn around and see the new kid. That's probably where their focus is."-Kiba_

"_Oh…" (Gets depressed)-Naruto_

"_Hey, how are you supposed to win her over with an attitude like that? Grow a dick man, seriously." –Shikamaru_

"_I guess your right. God, I hope I'm in her group so bad!"-Naruto_

… "Group six…"-Kakashi…

"_Chill out! Look, Ill bet you free ramen for a year that you can't get a date with Sakura. How does that sound?"-Kiba_

"_Dude! ZOMG RAMEN!! I will go on a date with her! Believe it!" -__**lol had to say it at least once… te he!-**_

"Group seven will be… Uchiha, Sasuke."-Kakashi

"_Here it is!"-Ino_

"Haruno, Sakura…"-Kakashi

"_Please be me!"-Naruto_

"… And Yamanaka Ino… oh sorry, I mean Uzumaki, Naruto." –Kakashi

"YES!" yelled Naruto, simultaneously standing up and drawing a "dear god" and a "We're doomed" from Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke sat down in the far seat by the window, Sakura close behind to sit next to him, and Naruto on the end, drawing a heated glare from Sakura.

"This is going to be the best year ever!"-Naruto

"Did you say something?"-Sakura

"He he, nothing at all…."-Naruto…

Sakura turned her focus back to Sasuke, who then received a hate glare from Naruto, but ignored them both.

"So Sasuke kun, where did you transfer from?" asked Sakura, turning her back from Naruto.

"Sigh. Is it going to be like this the entire year?"

"Like what?"

"You bothering me. Hey you." Sasuke asked Naruto.

"What?"

"Switch places with this girl for me before she makes me dizzy with all her meaningless talking."

"Do it and you DIE!" whispered Sakura so only Naruto could hear.

"Why should I?"

"Because if you don't then Sakura may fall in love with me."

Both Sakura and Naruto gaped and Naruto rapidly proceeded to switch with Sakura as her face reddened with embarrassment.

"Thanks. I'm Sasuke. Who're you again?"

"… Uzumaki, Naruto."

The rest of the day continued normally. When the bells rang everyone packed up and went home…. But there was one thing that kept bothering Naruto. He just KNEW he had seen Sasuke before somewhere; he just couldn't seem to place where…


	2. This is Where it Started

The days passed and school went on ordinarily. Naruto kept his seat next to Sasuke, but they didn't talk much. Sakura spent most of her time studying or glaring hate beams at Naruto, so he tried to avoid talking to her too.

Finally, Friday came around and the weekend was near. Having no plans himself; Naruto wasn't terribly excited for it.

Class still hadn't started and the boy was standing around talking to Chouji and Kiba when Shikamaru approached him…

"Naruto, you got any plans for tonight?"

"Nah, Ill probably just eat and get some sleep, why?"

"Well all the guys are coming over for a sort of beginning of school get-together. You should come."

"Great. Sounds like fun."

"Oh, and invite the new kid if you want. It'll be good for him to make some friends."

"Right. Sure thing."

And just as Shikamaru went to do other things, the bells rang and class began…

-Later during class-

"Psst! Sasuke!" (Whispered)

"What?"

"Sleep-over at Shikamaru's tonight. Want to come?"

"Not really."

-Depression from being rejected- "… Are you doing anything else?"

"No."

"Then why not come? It'll be fun!"

-Turns to look at Naruto- "Listen, I'm not interested in whatever you guys are doing. I'm not going."

Naruto looked away from Sasuke, attempting to shun him. Sakura gave him a questioning look, but he just told her it was nothing.

About two seconds passed before his attention span dissipated, and Naruto turned back to Sasuke.

"Please?? Come on, we all want you to go."

-Sighs- "I don't even know half of the names of the guys in this class, what evidence do I have that this isn't just going to be some sort of gay orgy that I'm innocently being dragged into?"

"Why the hell would you think that's going to happen?!?" (Clearly offended)

"That wasn't the point. The point is I'm not going. Now pay attention so that you don't get us failed."

-About four seconds of "paying attention" passes- "50 bucks."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll pay you 50 bucks."

"To go??"

"No, stupid, if it turns into a gay orgy."

"You really are an idiot, ya know?"

"…?"

"… You aren't going to leave me alone unless I go are you?"

"Most likely not."

-Frustrated expression- "I don't know where the place is."

"Sweet! You're coming!"

"Yeah, but remember… 50 bucks."

"Hehe, sure. But what if it was an orgy with girls??"

"You're a virgin aren't you?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT!?!" –Heated whispers from Sakura-

(Trying not to laugh) "Give me your address and we'll walk there together."

(Grin of amusement on face) "Sure."

Sasuke gave his address to Naruto and Sakura quieted down, obviously embarrassed from the fragments of the conversation she had overheard. Class continued with a lighter atmosphere than before, or at least for Naruto and Sasuke, who were starting to develop a friendship. The clock ticked slowly as they all waited for school to let out. Eventually, the bells rang and everyone went home.

A few hours later….

Naruto looked down at the pathetic-looking piece of notebook paper that had Sasuke's address on it. Double-checking the apartment #, he walked up the stairs and rang the buzzer for Sauske's room, which was towards the top of the very tall building. An intercom beeped and Sasuke's voice came out of it, "Who is it?".

Naruto pressed down the button and said, "It's Naruto". A few seconds passed and, for a moment, Naruto thought Sasuke wouldn't let him in. But the door buzzed and opened and Naruto walked in and took the elevator up to the floor Sasuke's apartment was on.

The walls were covered with blank beige wallpaper with periodic signs asking people to lock their doors behind them, or reminding them the hours the pool would be open. Fluorescent lights gave a yellow tint, so that when Sasuke opened his door, Naruto found the bright whiteness of his apartment somewhat excessive, almost painful.

"Come in, I'll get my stuff." Said Sasuke as he motioned for Naruto to follow. What the boy walked into was an average size living room, a kitchen off to the side and a small hallway towards the back. It even had a little balcony.

"Nice place. Do your parents live here with you?" asked Naruto, touching most everything that fell into his line of sight.

"I live alone." Answered Sasuke from one of the back rooms. Naruto continued to walk around and spotted a family photo hanging on the wall. He smiled sadly and said, "Well where do they live?"

"My parents are dead." Replied Sasuke with an indifferent voice. Naruto spun around to face the direction of the room Sasuke was in. "I'm sorry. I didn't know… but there's another boy in this picture here. Where is he?"

"My brother is gone. He was the one who killed my parents". Naruto felt a pang of horror streak through his body. He couldn't think of anything appropriate to say, so he went and sat down on a couch to wait.

A few minutes later Sasuke emerged from a back room with a bag over his shoulder, seemingly unmoved by the talk of his late parents. Naruto stood and opened his mouth, but Sasuke held up a finger and said, "I told you all you need to know about my family. Let's just put it behind us and move on." Naruto shut his mouth and turned to follow Sasuke out the door.

"So you like Sakura, huh?" asked Sasuke.

"Uhmmm… Maybe." (Blushing)

"Feh, no wonder she hates you. At least be a man about it when she's not around."

"HEY! I don't see YOU going after anyone!"

"I am uninterested in any of the females in our class."

"Oh yeah?" –mischievous smirk on face- "What about males?"

"I'm not gay."

"Sure, sure. But remember Sasuke, if you ever want to talk about it; I'm here for you. I'll be your friend regardless of your orientation."

-Pushes Naruto into wall. -

And so the two boys' playful talk continued all the way to Shikamaru's house.

. . .

Shikamaru had a pretty decent sized house. Big enough, at least, so that Naruto and Sasuke were out of breath when they reached the top of the stairs leading to the front door. As Naruto raised a shaky hand to knock on the door, Shikamaru opened up and Naruto fell inside.

"Wow. I should've expected this from you, but it still looks pathetic." Shikamaru looked up, saw Sasuke, and smiled. "Hey! I'm glad you could make it! Come on in."

The two walked over Naruto, who was lying helplessly on the ground, and went inside. Sasuke looked at Naruto over his shoulder and asked, "Is he going to be alright? His face is a little green…"

"Naruto has always been the least athletic person in our class. Just leave him alone and he'll be fine in a bit."

Sasuke gave a silent "oh" and followed Shikamaru deeper into the monster of a house. They went through the entry and down a hallway, where Shikamaru opened a door and everyone was waiting inside.

"SASUKE!!! Glad you could make it!" said Chouji, getting up to shake his hand. Shikamaru took his bag and threw it into a pile of other bags. Kiba looked up from a game of cards and said, "Oi, didn't you come with Naruto??"

"Umm, yeah. About that…"

"Hey guys!" Naruto walked into the room looking slightly paler then usual. Everyone said hi and got to playing games and eating food. A lot of food. And to go with it, they all drank a lot of punch. A few hours later…

"Psst, Shikamaru" whispered Kiba.

"What?"

"Want to play a prank on Naruto?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Shikamaru and Kiba continued to whisper in the corner as the rest continued a game of poker. Naruto was loosing.

Shikamaru walked out the door, saying he was going to get something and Kiba joined the game. A few minutes later, Shikamaru came back and sat down, whispered something to Chouji and Shino, and then joined the game himself.

"Damn it. I think we made too much punch", said Shikamaru after a while, "Anyone want to finish it off?" Everyone shook their heads except for Naruto and Sasuke.

"Ill have some more" said Naruto, "Sasuke, you want any?"

"Sure."

Shikamaru exchanged glances with Kiba, realizing where their prank had gone wrong. No one had told Sasuke. But if they told him now, before he drank the punch, Naruto would notice and it would be ruined. So they decided to say nothing and see how things played out.

Naruto, rather than bringing back a couple of cups of punch, brought back the whole 2-liter bottle. Sasuke frowned at him, then rolled his eyes and grabbed it to take the first sip.

Within about five minutes the whole thing was gone, and everyone was watching in amusement as Naruto and Sasuke proceeded to get drunk as hell. Shikamaru had mixed the punch with sake.

"Hey, I have an idea. Let's play truth or dare", suggested Kiba, obviously enjoying this. "I'll go first. Naruto truth or dare?"

"UHHmmmmzzzz what?"

"TRUTH OR DARE?!"

"OH… DAREzzzzzz"

"Sweet. I dare you to… go lay down in the street naked."

"Kiba, that's sick. Not to mention he's to stupid to move when a car came. I have a better one." –Shikamaru whispers into Kiba's ear…

"Oh… I see. You're right, that one's better. Naruto! I dare you to kiss Sasuke."

"Hmmm… ok. SASUKE!?!"

"You don't have to yell… hick-up … I'm right next to you."

"Oh. Haha". Naruto leaned in towards Sasuke as everyone else inched closer with anticipation. Naruto placed his hand on Sasuke's red cheek and tilted his face upwards so that they were inches apart.

"I has to kiss… you." Said Naruto, eyes totally unfocused. Then he moved in and there lips met. Sasuke didn't pull away, but shut his eyes and leaned into it instead. The two remained like that for a few moments, as everyone else took cell-phone pictures, and then Naruto proceeded to pass out.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto and then started laughing hysterically. The smiles faltered a bit as he surprised everyone. "What's so funny?" asked Chouji.

"N-Naruto owes…. Naruto owes me 50 bucks!" answered Sasuke as he continued to laugh, and then finally blacked out. Shikamaru just shook his head and said, "Well, that was one hell of a way to end the first week of the semester."

Kiba chuckled and Chouji yawned. "Its time to sleep" said Shino. Everyone else nodded in agreement and went to bed. That was how their first school week of the semester ended.


	3. Sick Days and Ramen

In the morning Naruto and Sasuke seemingly didn't remember anything, so no one else talked about it. They did have pretty nasty hangovers though. Naruto walked into his house, hand held to his head, and kicked the door shut behind him.

"If this keeps up I am _definitely_ not going to school Monday" (has never been drunk before). He staggered slowly, dragging his feet, until he got to his bed, which he continued to crawl onto and go to sleep… Or at least until he had to run for the bathroom to puke.

That Monday Naruto, who was still way hung over, wasn't at school. Sasuke noticed this, and was glad because he had a very vivid memory of what had happened (holds alcohol well). He could remember all the details, from the lack of control the sake had caused to the way it had felt to be given his first kiss by Naruto. And every time he remembered this, a blush would over-run his face and Sakura would ask him if he was feeling well.

By the time lunch came, he couldn't handle the distraction anymore, and decided to go home sick. Sasuke had his school bag over one shoulder as he walked down the sidewalk, thinking about what had happened. The fresh air had at least helped a little.

_I'm not gay. This shouldn't be a problem. It was a dare and I was under the influence of alcohol. I'm innocent! This is just like that time in middle school when I thought Haku was a girl and asked him out. We became good pen pals after that, didn't we?_

Sasuke stopped walking and stared up at the sky, trying to forget about what happened… When someone above him yelled, "watch out!" and a cup of instant-ramen fell on his head.

"What the hell?" yelled Sasuke as he quickly tried to get the scalding noodles off his head.

"Sasuke??" called a familiar voice.

_No fucking way._

"Hold on just a second Sasuke! Ill bring you down a towel!" yelled Naruto from an upper apartment. Naruto ran down the stairs of his building, remembered he needed a towel, ran back to get the towel, and eventually made it outside to give it to Sasuke.

"Why are you panting? You look like you just got chased by a rabid dog."

"I-I ran… I ran up the s-stairs and…"

"Ok, ok don't hurt yourself." Sasuke took the towel and proceeded to dry off his head. When he was done he looked at Naruto, who was staring at the fallen noodles as if he had just seen his puppy get hit by a semi. Sasuke smirked at him and threw the towel onto his head.

"Thanks."

"No problem… So why aren't you at school?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I'm sick."

"…"

"What? I really am!"

"I don't believe you."  
"Well why did you leave school? You're still wearing your uniform."

"Sick."

"Ah. Maybe we both got the same thing at Shikamaru's party?"

Sasuke blushed as he realized Naruto was just hung over. He had realized what had happened not too long after he threw up when he got home. Though Naruto still seemed lively enough to be at school, and ignorant enough not to know what happened.

"Come on in if you have nothing better to do", said Naruto enthusiastically.

Sasuke reached two fingers out and poked Naruto in the forehead, walking past him, and said, "Sure."

Naruto gives him a "what the hell was that" look, but shrugs and leads him up to his place.

Naruto's apartment was pretty much one room plus a bathroom. His bed was off to one side of the door, a small kitchen area was to the other side and in front of the kitchen were a TV and a couch. The door too the bathroom was on the far side of the room. Bowls and instant ramen cups covered every flat surface there was to be covered.

The boys waded through Naruto's trash until they made it to the couch. Sasuke sat down and looked up at Naruto.

"If you give me your shirt I'll put it in the wash for you", said Naruto with the best intentions.

Sasuke blushed and looked away, "That's fine. It will dry on its own anyway".

"Just give it to me. Its not like you have anything to hide", said Naruto with a playful voice.

Sasuke let out a sigh and thought, _if I'm not gay, I should be perfectly comfortable in front of him without a shirt on._

Sasuke stood up and unbuttoned the soaked shirt. Peeling it off of his body, he handed it to Naruto, who took it and opened a closet door, which revealed a washer and dryer.

After throwing Sasuke's shirt in the washer, Naruto sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"I don't live with my parents either," said Naruto.

_That was random_ thought Sasuke, as he glanced at the boy next to him.

"My parents died when I was little. My godfather, Jaraiya, raised me. But as I got older, I needed more space. So I moved out."

Several minutes passed where nothing was said. Naruto and Sasuke both sat, watching some program on the TV.

Sasuke broke the silence first with, "I'm sorry."

Naruto turned and smiled at him, "Its ok. I just know how you feel, so tell me if you ever want to talk."

Sasuke grunted and mumbled something about that being the most feminine bullshit he'd ever heard a man say, but didn't argue or reject it.

The two sat there with the TV on, but not really watching it for a long time. Eventually, the sun began to set and it started to get dark.

"It's getting late", said Sasuke without moving, still staring at the TV, "I should probably go soon." Sasuke stood up turned to leave, but Naruto grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "You want to stay over?" asked the blonde haired boy innocently.

After thinking it over, Sasuke agreed that he would. Naruto turned the television off and stood up with a yawn, stretching his arms up so that his faded t-shirt rose above his sweatpants, revealing a spot of tan stomach.

Sasuke looked away, glad the lights were off because he was blushing. He just wasn't going to be able to get over this if he didn't do something.

As Naruto walked towards the light switch Sasuke asked, "Oi, Naruto? Do you remember what happened at Shikamaru's?"

Naruto stopped and turned, giving Sasuke a look. "Of course I remember it. I _was_ there after all."

Sasuke shook his head and walked up to Naruto placing a hand on his shoulder. "No, I mean do you remember ALL of it? From when you got there to when you went to sleep?"

"Sasuke, man, are you all right?"

Sasuke turned and walked away from Naruto, then began pacing back and forth.

"Dude what happened? I didn't think about it much, but I can't really remember anything after drinking that punch. Maybe Shikamaru slipped something into it… He would do that, and besides.."

"It was sake", interrupted Sasuke.

"What?"

"Someone slipped sake into the punch. We both got drunk and…" Sasuke stopped pacing, "you kissed me."

Naruto sat down on the floor, hard enough to hurt. _But that would have been my first… and it was with Sasuke,_ thought Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto. Naruto? You okay?"

"That was my first kiss than."

"Great. Mine too. Now what are we going to do about this?"

Naruto just stared at the floor for a while, silently. When he looked up, he saw Sasuke differently. His eyes widened with surprise as he realized THIS was the person from his dream.


	4. Kakashi's scar

**Hmm. This took awhile to post..... I regret nothing. Note: staying up all night to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion in one sitting is sooooooo worth it. Last two episodes make no sense by the time you get to them (not that they do anyway) but its still worth it. Thnx to those of you who have reviewed! If you havnt... Review. Nao. I command you!**

"Naruto? Something wrong?" asked Sasuke. _Of course there's something wrong,_ he told himself, but didn't say it aloud because he didn't want to make the situation worse. Sasuke had picked up on Naruto's the change of facial expression and was hoping he hadn't said the wrong thing. "Ya know, we could just forget about it. No one has to know except for those of us who were there and the other guys haven't said anything so…" Sasuke said in a rush, but trailed off as he noticed that Naruto wasn't listening to a word he was saying. The tan blonde had his big blue eyes glued firmly to Sasuke's face, but they weren't exactly making contact. Sasuke took a step forward and knelt down so he was eye level with Naruto.

Naruto continued to stare at Sasuke, not hearing the boy's attempts to draw a response from him. _So…what does this mean? Is Sasuke actually a girl?_ Naruto, being a little slower than most, took a few seconds before he realized this couldn't be possible since Sasuke was sitting right in front of him without a shirt on.

A blush slowly grew on his face, when he finally got it, and he turned his face away from Sasuke. Sasuke, noticing the change in consciousness, immediately drew back from Naruto to give him space. The two boys sat on opposite ends of the small apartment and stared at anything but each other, not daring to break the awkward silence.

After a few minutes of quiet, Naruto raised his eyes to look at Sasuke. The black haired boy was staring at the carpet, and didn't notice Naruto's gaze. He had his chin resting on his knees; his arm wrapped around his legs, and his other hand picking at fuzz in the carpet.

As Naruto stared at Sasuke, he looked at him. _Really_ looked at him, from his hair, so definitely black it nearly had blue highlights, to his skin, which was smooth and pale in contrast. Rather than feeling all fluttery inside though, he felt somewhat protective. Even though he knew that they had barely just met a week ago, Naruto felt sure that he kept getting closer and closer to Sasuke every time they talked, or did something together or whatever, and now he felt like he wanted to make sure that their relationship could grow so that he could be there to make sure no one ever hurt Sasuke. It was like all of his greatest fears had been rendered obsolete in comparison to the fear of seeing pain on that handsome face. Naruto shivered and looked away from the pale beauty.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, and now that he knew where he stood a bit more, Naruto exhaled audibly, and then stood up, drawing a look from Sasuke. Naruto met Sasuke's eyes seriously, and then smiled as he walked over to give him a hand up. Sasuke took the hand, returning Naruto's smile with one of his own, and the two shared a moment that only guys have. They don't really have to say anything; they just know that everything's all better. No words necessary. And though Sasuke was oblivious, or at least he was in Naruto's mind, Naruto would do his best to stay by Sasuke's side and make the most of this new affection he had towards the dark-haired boy.

The two went and sat on the couch again and turned on the TV to some movie. They spent hours just talking, laughing and watching television without any awkward feelings. Continuing until late in the night, it was about 1:00 in the morning when Naruto let out a deep yawn, drawing a chuckle from Sasuke.

"You tired?" he asked, voice full of teasing.

"Am not! I'm just… just… a little..." Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he almost jumped off the couch as Naruto's eyelids fluttered shut and his head fell against Sasuke's shoulder. _Calm. I need to be calm. He fell asleep, this was not on purpose. We already sorted everything out so there's no reason for me to be so damn nervous!_ Sasuke wedged a hand between Naruto and himself, and pushed him until he flopped onto the couch, sleeping like a rock. Sasuke looked at Naruto sleeping and grinned. The boy lay haphazardly sprawled on the couch, one arm above his head, mouth open, and drool dripping down his cheek as he let out sporadic snores. Sasuke couldn't help but find it at least a little funny. Sasuke ran his fingers through his black hair and sighed as he got up to find a blanket and then cleared a spot on the floor to sleep.

Just as Sasuke reached up to turn off the light, he heard a murmur from behind him.

"… Did you say something?" asked Sasuke cautiously, not wanting to wake up Naruto if he was actually asleep.

"I said I lost the game." Mumbled Naruto, obviously pissed off and hardly aware of the words coming out of his mouth.

"What game?" asked Sasuke with a tone emphasizing his lack of understanding.

Naruto sat up a little and turned towards Sasuke with a look of shock. "THE game".

"WHAT game!?" Sasuke was letting irritation seep into his voice, but before Naruto did anything that would potentially spark violence, the boy waved his hand, as if to wipe the air clean, and rolled over to fall back asleep.

Sasuke sat still for a moment, thinking to himself about what Naruto just said, then realized he was trying to make logic of something the biggest idiot in their class had coughed up while half awake at approximately 1 am. Sasuke shook his head at the clear waste of time and turned off the light, settling into his borrowed pillow and blanket, to his discontent it was pink and had baby sloths sporadically throughout the fabric, which functioned as a makeshift Sasuke drifted off to sleep, among his last thoughts before dreams came, he reminded himself to ask Naruto why neither of them were sleeping in the bed.

_Naruto…_ came a faraway voice. Naruto ignored it. _Naruto _the voice said, with a little more force. _Why cant you just let me sleep!? I'm in such a wonderful sleep. Feels so good…_

"NARUTO!" shouted Sasuke as he simultaneously dumped a bucket of water on Naruto.

"Oi! What the hell?!?" shrieked Naruto, who was standing faster than Sasuke had thought possible.

"YOU!" said Naruto with a low voice full of such heated anger that Sasuke had a moment to weigh the odds of loosing a fight with Naruto and/or if he could outrun him in the time it would take to get outside…

Naruto took a step forward and seemed to crouch, emulating the poise of a predator before it pounces, when Sasuke put a hand up, bucket at his side ready to be used as a weapon if necessary. "H-hold up! Naruto! Look at the time!" Naruto looked over at the clock and, noticing nothing unusual looked back at Sasuke with an empty look on his face.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and realized that he was going to have to explain most everything to this kid. "If we don't book it, we're going to be late for school!" Naruto looked back at the clock and then at Sasuke and finally, his face lit up with the full understanding of what Sasuke had just said.

"SHIT!" yelled Naruto as he ran for the bathroom, Sasuke threw down his bucket and began digging through the endless cups of old ramen, in search of his school things.

"Naruto, seriously! You need to clean up you shit once in awhile!" shouted Sasuke from across the small apartment. Naruto grunted in acknowledgment from behind the bathroom door and Sasuke rolled his eyes, guessing that it was a lost cause.

When the two of them had gotten all of their school things together and were somewhat presentable, they hit the door running and barely made the bus.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Wait a second… why are you guys wheezing?" asked Kiba, who also rode Naruto's bus.

"We woke up –wheeze- about 5 –wheeze- minutes ago…" Sasuke managed to get out before collapsing into the bench seat that Naruto already occupied half of.

Kiba just laughed and shook his head, sitting down across from them. "So why are you guys together anyway? Do you take this bus too, Sasuke?" asked Kiba, who hadn't missed the fact that they had gotten on at the same time.

"Oh yeah. Sasuke and I ran into each other yesterday and after talking for awhile he stayed over at my place" answered Naruto, fully recovered. After eyeing them suspiciously, Kiba left it alone, but not before Sasuke had seen the elongated look they had been given. _Shit. He probably thinks it has something to do with the…party. Well if we ignore it maybe he won't say anything. Yeah. And maybe Naruto will clean up his apartment._ Sasuke was carefully trying to read Kiba without being noticed, but luckily Kiba wasn't much smarter than Naruto, so that wasn't a likely possibility.

The bus had picked up a little later than usual so the first bell had already rung by the time the boys got to school, so they all ran to their classroom in hopes that they wouldn't be late. Luckily, they made it in just as the bell rang.

A relieved sigh escaped from all three of them, as they stood bent over in the doorway of the classroom trying to catch their breath. Sakura glanced over at them, and Naruto waved, but she turned her head away as if she hadn't seen him.

Slouching and befallen into instant depression, Naruto felt Sasuke pat his hunched back and say, "You can't win 'em all" or something close to that. He looked up but found Sasuke and Kiba already heading to their seats and hurried to catch up, immediately distracted from his depression.

When everyone was seated and quiet, Kakashi sensei put down the book he was reading, which was rare for him even though he was supposed to _teach_ them, not spend all class reading, so he instantly held the fascination of every student in the room. Their teacher was a peculiar man with gray hair (not old gray but a gray he had been born with) that stuck out all over the place, a scar trailing down in a line from his left eye, and he wore a black mask that covered his mouth.

On the second day of school a kid asked where he had gotten the scar. He had told them that he had been out at a bar with a couple of his friends a few years back and after getting a little buzzed started hitting on this beautiful girl who had told him her name was Haku. She had tried to convince him she was a boy but he wouldn't believe her because 1) drunk people don't agree with logic 2) what would a boy be doing in a bar? Isn't that illegal? And 3) a few minutes later her boyfriend, Zabuza, who was quite large and seemed to insist on not wearing a shirt in public, came over and beat the shit out of him. Thus, how he got the scar.

Kakashi stood and walked to the center of the wood floor space he had to walk in while he taught. The classroom was built so that the door opened to a floor that was actually lower than the raised levels that had the students' desks on them. On the open floor in front of the raised levels were Kakashi's desk, a pulpit-like thing that teachers tend to have for when they teach, a bookshelf, and against the wall was a chalkboard.

The students listened intently as Kakashi sensei, who had set down his book (which he never does), stood behind his pulpit-like thing.

"I have an announcement." Said the strange man, drawing even more anticipation from the students. "Today you will not be going to your other classes. We are going on a field trip!" said Kakashi with more emotion than anything he had ever said to them before. The students erupted in talk of where they would be going, and how their teachers would know they were on a field trip, and so on. "Settle down", ordered Kakashi, "I have sent notice to all your other teachers ahead of time so they do not expect you today. We will be arriving back here by the time school ends so you shouldn't worry about getting home unusually late. And for those of you who buy lunch, I don't think you'll find much of a food shortage where we are going". And with that, Kakashi picked up his book and turned to the page he had been on as he walked out of the room.

The students, not knowing what to do about him leaving the classroom, simply sat there in silence until he poked his head back in, eyes glued to the book, and made an indication with his hand that they were supposed to follow.

Everyone grabbed their stuff and happily resumed pre-class conversations and spread the latest gossip and such as they hurried to follow their teacher.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, where do you think we're going?" asked Sakura who was practically glued to his side. Sasuke rolled his eyes and gave an "I don't know" that was dripping with annoyance. But that didn't discourage the girl. She kept fluttering about him as if he was the sun and she revolved around him, and he found it increasingly closer to molestation of personal space.

"I hope it's an instant ramen factory. Maybe they would give us free samples!" said Naruto, his face lighting up with the idea of getting to eat the salty deliciousness for free.

Sasuke just gave him a look and said, "You would" before ditching both him and the pink-haired girl to go ahead in the group.

"Sasuke?" the two said in-sync, and then ran to catch up with Sasuke before he found someone else to sit next to on the bus.


	5. The Melancholy of Uzumaki Naruto

**HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Even though I'm, what, 14 days late?? That's okay. Anyway, new chapter *ho shit!?*. Hope you like!! ****l:E **

Naruto and Sakura, much to their dismay, would not be sitting next to Sasuke on the bus. Sasuke, not wanting to sit next to either of them (for fear of molestation or worse), had pre-arranged to sit next to Shikamaru on any upcoming field trips.

Unfortunately, this meant that by the time Naruto and Sakura had found this out, everyone else had also found someone to sit next to. Leaving them only the option of sitting next to each other.

With all the furry someone with pink hair can have, and still be taken seriously, Sakura put great effort into showing her repulsion towards the idea of sitting next to Naruto. Naruto, though he liked Sakura and all, didn't feel to anxious to sit next to her either. She did, after all, clearly detest him to the greatest extreme.

Taking the last seat on the bus, Sakura sat down with a huff on the very back row. Naruto, far enough behind to not be hit by anything, approached with great caution.

"Umm…. Sakura… chan?" Naruto asked in a timid voice. The boy seemed much smaller than his loud-voiced self usually seemed… most likely a result of the steam that seemed to be rising above Sakura.

The girl turned her head so slowly, it was almost painful to watch.

"What?" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"Umm… Well. This is, er, the last seat… Uhh" Naruto barely managed to stutter.

"Well, OUT WITH IT!?" shrieked Sakura.

"THIS-IS-THE-LAST-SEAT-SO-CAN-I-PLEASE-SIT-NEXT-TO-YOU?" asked Naruto, wincing away from the demonic furry that had possessed his classmate.

With a shaky breath, Sakura forced herself to calm down. It was just Naruto. He hadn't done anything to make her mad… yet. She was mostly just upset that she couldn't sit next to Sasuke.

"Sure." Muttered the girl, turning to look out the bus window. Naruto looked up and gave an ecstatic grin. He lifted his backpack onto his lap as he slid onto the seat, drawing a cringe from Sakura, who gave her best effort to keep as much space between them as possible.

Naruto noticed her sighs and couldn't help but hear the growling that she did when he wasn't at least halfway falling off the seat. He gave her a sideways glance, curiously, and she noticed him out of the corner of her eye.

"Could you stop staring at me?" she asked, with absolutely no energy. Naruto immediately stiffened and looked forward, mumbling an apology.

"Sakura chan, could I ask you a question?" asked Naruto. The unusual lack of stupidity in his tone drew a glance from Sakura, who saw he was sort of spacing out, or at least she couldn't think of another reason for him to look so serious.

"Fine. What?" asked Sakura, reluctantly.

"Why do you hate me?" As he asked this, Naruto turned to look at Sakura with serious eyes. She had expected something idiotic or involving him making a pass at her, so it drew a flush in her cheeks and she sat a little straighter.

"I-I don't know w-what your talking about!" she said defensively, but unsure. He had successfully caught her off guard.

"Yes. Yes you do," said Naruto. The blonde boy turned and rested his forehead against the seat in front of him, letting out an exasperated noise.

Sakura, shocked at the sudden display of maturity, just stared at Naruto for a couple of seconds, gaping. If you were to ask her later, she would assure you that her face had turned a few shades redder, as she realized why he was asking this of her. After all, she did treat him like crap, but it was always because of the constant annoyance he was, and his lack of the ability to show any trace of intelligence.

She watched in silence as the boy ran one hand through his bleach-blonde hair. "Well, Can't you at least give me an answer?" he demanded. Sakura let out a shaky breath, but for a different reason than she had earlier. This was not annoying. This was not lack of intelligence. Sakura had a distant thought that maybe there was more to Naruto than she had thought.

"I, I'm sorry Naruto. I- I never thought…"

"DAMMIT THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER!" Naruto said, now angry, slamming a fist into the seat in front of him. "Maybe I'm not the smartest person, and maybe I can be annoying. But ever since we were kids, all I've ever wanted from you was some sort of recognition! I've always admired you! It doesn't even have to have anything to do with love or dating or crap like that. But you, ever since we were kids, have always treated me like dirt." Naruto, who had been staring at the seat, looked up at Sakura now. She met his eyes, but had to look away from the intensity of his gaze. He was right, and she felt ashamed.

"However," he said, the startling calmness of his voice re-attracting Sakura's eyes, "It was probably my fault for never saying that. I've always come at you trying to get you to be my girlfriend or something, because I couldn't think of doing anything else." Naruto chuckled at the thought, bringing a sparkle to his blue eyes. He re-focused back on Sakura and leaned in close, whispering, "So let me start over. Hey, I'm Naruto. Let's be friends".

Sakura, not sure what to do about this new Naruto, noticed the hand he had stuck out towards her. Carefully, she grasped it and shook hands, widening Naruto's smile.

"AHH! That felt good." Naruto said, letting out a breath of air, and put his hands behind his head as he leaned back against the bus seat.

Sakura, hand still hanging in the air, gave Naruto a suspicious look. The boy, noticing her from the corner of his eye, gave her a sideways grin and a wink, causing her to get a grip on herself and sit up properly.

"You seem… different," said Sakura, not sure how to make things less awkward.

Naruto looked down on her with curiosity written on his face. "Really? I don't feel different".

Sakura, forgetting awkwardness, leaned forward and focused on Naruto. "Has anything happened recently?"

Naruto thought for a moment then formed an O with his mouth as he had a flash on kissing Sasuke. He quickly diverted his eyes from Sakura's interrogating gaze, but a blush gave him away.

Sakura, noticing the obvious, sat up straighter, and smiled slyly. "So something DID happen! Does it involve a girl?"

Naruto turned to face his body toward her in his seat and started, "No! Listen nothing…" but never finished as the bus roared to life and jerked forward, causing Sakura to fall back against the window and Naruto to loose his grip on the seat. The boy, saving their faces from collision by a last grab for the fake leather upholstery, could not stop himself in time to prevent his lips from meeting Sakura's.

The two sat motionless for what seemed like an eternity, with Naruto's lips pressed to Sakura's, before Naruto pulled off first and, realizing he was on top of Sakura, scrambled to the other side of the seat. Naruto held up his hands, attempting to seem harmless, and frantically spewed apologies, but the girl, who had stayed frozen only a moment longer, was violet with rage, as she began to shake.

Naruto had time to let out a meager "Oh god" before Sakura shrieked and came at him, delivering a full-blown punch to the face. Naruto fell back, dizzy from the impact, only to be lifted from the bus floor by his jacket by Sakura, drawing the attention of the rest of the bus.

"UZUMAKI! You LECHER! I CANNOT believe that even YOU would sink so low as to do that!" she screamed, causing Naruto to go a bit pale.

"Sakura chan, really, It was an accident! The bus started and.."

"That's IT! You are SOOOO not sitting next to me" she yelled, and threw Naruto further down the aisle.

Ino rolled her eyes and stood up, walked down the isle, and told Naruto to take her seat next to Hinata as she slid in next to the enraged Sakura.

Naruto held a hand over his swollen eye as he somberly trudged toward the row Hinata was sitting in. A few of the guys patted his shoulder in sympathy.

Naruto sat down and mumbled a weak "Hey" to Hinata, who just blushed and looked away.

**Note: This is NOT a NaruxSaku. PLEASE do not hate spam me about Sakura because this really is just my way of getting to the next chapter, Naruto and Sakura will NOT end up together. THNX FOR READIN. HOPE YOU LIKE...**


	6. The WalMart chronicles

**WAL-MART!!! I hate it so much... and yet its so amazing. **

As the bus rounded a corner and pulled into a parking lot, the students let their jaws drop as they saw that their destination was none other than, Wal-Mart. Everyone made disapproving sounds and gestures as the bus eased to a stop, and Kakashi sensei stood, still reading his book.

It took them a few minutes to notice their teacher standing before they took the hint and sat back down. Kakashi cleared his throat and announced, "As you can see, our field trip is to Wal-Mart. We are not, however, here for just fun. You have three hours to make a list of all the products you would need to survive in the wilderness, but you may have at most 20 different items. Each item should have specific brand name, quantity in package, and price. We shall all be meeting here, in front of our bus, when the time is up, and you will need to turn in one list for every three-person group before you can board the bus. Oh, and you can feel free to buy/eat lunch while you're here. Any questions?"

All of the students had looks of suspicion on their face, but no one asked any questions.

"All right then, GO!" said Kakashi, and everyone rushed off the bus. As Sakura got off the bus, Naruto and Sasuke were waiting off to the side as the rest of the groups made their way happily into Wall-Mart.

Sakura completely ignored Naruto as she skipped merrily to Sasuke, grabbing his arm.

"So, Sasuke-kun, lets go! I already have a plan to get this done quickly… unless YOU have an idea. Then we'll do what you think", Sakura kept gushing as a now nervous Sasuke attempted to peel the overly excited girl off his arm.

Sakura began dragging Sasuke towards Wall-Mart as the boy gave helpless glances to Naruto, who tried to stay back and not get in her way. After a few minutes, Sakura had managed to drag Sasuke to the aisle that has mass-packaged water bottles before Sasuke asked, "Oi, Sakura. Where the hell is Naruto?"

"Who cares? We don't need him, he'll just slow us down…" Sakura remembered the conversation she had with Naruto, and let out a sigh. She stood up and looked around, the blonde-haired idiot nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know. But if my guess is worth anything, I'd say he'd be somewhere near the instant ramen."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment, shocked by the simplicity of the idea, and grabbed her hand as he turned to go find the ramen aisle, pulling her with him. Sakura protested, but followed anyway, also feeling bad about her earlier reaction to what had happened even though it was an obvious accident.

However, when they turned a corner and looked down the aisle with instant ramen, Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke sat down with an audible thud, and Sakura made a frustrated gesture.

"Wow. I can't believe he isn't here," said Sasuke, genuinely surprised.

Sakura paced, nearly thinking out loud, and said, "I can't think of anywhere else he would be. Maybe he just hasn't gotten here yet. I'm willing to wait for him five minutes before…." Sakura left her sentence unfinished, drawing Sasuke's attention.

"What's wro…"

"Shhhh. Can you hear that?"

The two waited and listened and sure enough, they heard a horn honking in the distance, barely audible above the rush of the Wal-Mart shoppers. They both turned slowly, almost afraid of what they would find, and both gaped at what they saw.

Naruto was riding toward them on a little yellow pedal bike. The kind built for kids under six that has one big wheel in the front, two small in the back, a lowered seat, and two handle bars on which was mounted, none other than, a small grab-horn.

Naruto was nearly falling off the bike he was laughing so hard, and looked slightly high or drunk. You pick. "SAKURA-CHAAAN! SASUKE! CHECK OUT WHAT I FOUND!" shouted Naruto, still honking the horn.

Sasuke stood up and started to walk away, shaking his head, and Sakura was busy saying something about not knowing the kid on the little yellow bike. "What's up guys?" Naruto said as he stopped in front of Sakura.

"Where the hell were you? And why do you have THAT? This is a school assignment!" yelled Sakura, but with less rage than usual so she must have found this at least slightly amusing.

"Well, I was trying to find the ramen aisle but I got lost and ended up in the bike section, which is where I found this! It's awesome. Ya know, they have a red one and a pink one too if you guys want to get some."

"Are you retarded?" asked Sakura, a look of exasperation on her face. Sasuke just started laughing.

"I can't believe you would actually ask that question," said Sasuke, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Oh. And Sakura-Chan? I'm sorry about what happened on the bus. It was an accident. Ok?"

"I guess I forgive you. But how can you be so calm about all of this?? I mean that was my first kiss! It was yours too wasn't it?"

Naruto and Sasuke froze, and gave a quick, almost unnoticed, glance to each other.

"Wait a second." Sakura said, backing up slowly so she could look at both Naruto and Sasuke.

"It wasn't your first kiss, was it?"

Naruto, refusing to meet her eyes, shook his head.

"Then, if your first kiss wasn't me… it wasn't any of the girls in our class, or else I would know. But that must mean…" Sakura's eyes grew wide as she realized that his first kiss had been with Sasuke.

"HIM?" she said, eyes wide with shock. Naruto nodded in agreement to Sakura's hand pointed at Sasuke.

"So your first kiss was… but that would make you both …" Sakura jumped with surprise as Sasuke placed a hand over her mouth.

"I suggest we have lunch now," said Sasuke, "we will tell you the story there if you PROMISE not to tell anyone."

Sakura nodded in agreement and Sasuke dropped his hand. The group went over and hand lunch at the McDonalds at the front of the store, where Sasuke and Naruto explained the incident at the party. Sakura understood completely and swore she wouldn't tell anyone.

By this time about two hours had gone by. They all found themselves back at the water bottles, finishing up their list, when Kiba and Akamaru came from nowhere and ran into them, causing their lists to go flying.

"Ow. That really hurt," mumbled Naruto, rubbing his butt as he stood up. Kiba quickly apologized and grabbed a list, handing one to Sakura as well, before running off to wherever he was headed.

"Well that should be everything. The water was our last item," said Sakura, confidently. Without a second glance, she slipped the list into her pocket for safekeeping.

"Sweet. So what should we do now?" asked Sasuke.

"BIKES!" shrieked Naruto, who was jumping up and down with excitement.

Sakura looked to Sasuke, who just shrugged and followed Naruto. They spent about 10 minutes riding around on the multi-colored tricycles before they were thrown out of Wal-Mart.

When the bus came, everyone met in the designated spot and handed Kakashi their lists as they boarded. The ride back was uneventful. The following week team 7, who had been the lowest ranked group in the class, began rising in grade. Sakura and Naruto were getting along much better, and Sakura had actually become much less attached to Sasuke. So far so good, but something has to go wrong, or else there would be no plot to this story. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?!?

**Review!**


	7. All Naruto's Fault

"This CANNOT be happening", said Sakura hopelessly. Rain pelted the three students as they stood around, and gazed in horror at, the pile of 15 containers of instant ramen and 5 bottles of water.

Sasuke shook his head and let out a dry laugh, "Well, at least we have something to eat."

The three continued to stand and stare, ignoring the rain. Though no one was absolutely sure about what had happened, everyone had come to one unanimous, and depressingly predictable, conclusion. This was definitely Naruto's fault.

Four Days Prior…

"Good morning, Sensei!" Naruto waved at his teacher as he headed up to his seat. Kakashi grunted a reply and made an unfamiliar gesture with his hand.

The boy happily slid into his seat between Sasuke and Sakura just before the bell rang.

The murmurs of happily chatting students in the morning began to die down as Kakashi Sensei put down his book. The common thought throughout the classroom was that the putting down of the book must mean they were going somewhere. Again. Without being told in advance.

Kakashi began by stating the obvious, "I have an announcement."

Sakura raised her hand. "Yes Sakura?"

"If it's another field trip, I can't go. I have an exam in my next class."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and stood up for emphasis, "Of COURSE its not another field trip. We just went on one earlier this month. What kind of a teacher would I be if I just took you on fieldtrips all the time and didn't teach you anything?"

There were a few skeptical looks from the students, who really hadn't learned _anything_ in this class yet.

"To continue what I was saying, we will all be going on a class trip in four days. It's over the weekend so you wont miss any school. We will leave after your classes on Friday end for a sort of… camping trip."

A sadistic smile that would've melted any saint's face off replaced the casual, apathetic smirk that usually was worn under Kakashi's mask. It made some, Naruto and Sakura included, squirm in their seats.

"Now I will be handing out a paper informing you of your assignment and how you will be graded," Kakashi began passing out papers to the rows of seats, "Your trip to Wal-Mart may make a tiny bit more sense now."

A couple of gasps could be heard and a few protestant shrieks were made as the papers were passed one by one to each student, but all were making sure to keep quiet enough so that their sadistic-smile-wearing teacher wouldn't focus his attention, and possibly inflict something dreadful, upon them.

"This field trip is not required," said their Sensei as he ventured back to the front of the classroom, "and if you could have your parent/guardian sign a note written to me, I will give you a ten page essay to write as a make-up."

The class responded with a less-than-satisfied tone. "This must be a joke. Can he even do this?" demanded Sakura, shoving her paper into Naruto's face to make sure he saw.

"As you all have hopefully read by now, our class trip will be to the canyon so colorfully named, Dante's Inferno. As you may have heard, rumor has it that no one who has attempted to camp there overnight has ever come out alive."

A thick silence settled in the classroom. No one dared move, or speak, or breathe for fear of breaking that silence. The unbelievable suspense of what was to be said next had everyone nearly off his or her chair, and Kakashi relished it. That smile, which had been fading as their Sensei had talked, was menacing as ever now as sweat began to bead and run down the backs and necks of the students.

"However, I can tell you this is not true," their clearly insane teacher let on a new air of sanity as he made an oddly human gesture and turned towards his desk to sit and pick up his book. The strangest part was the fact that the somewhat normal gestures were the ones that seemed out of place. Making his usual calm indifference somewhat startling. "I know so, because I have spent a whole week there," he continued from behind the latest edition of the Make out Paradise series, "and I assure you, those disappearances were just rumors… mostly."

"Anyway," he continued, "your assignment, should you choose to participate, is simple. _SURVIVE. _Think of it as a test of maturity. And by the way, you will need EVERYONE in your group to participate. No exceptions."

Just then, without a moment's delay, the bell rang. No one moved at first, except Kakashi Sensei, to flip a page, and then slowly, one by one, they all gathered their things and evacuated the classroom with no more than hushed murmurs to be heard.

Naruto said a meek, "see ya" to Sakura and Sasuke, who both mumbled something inaudible back, and let worry-lines crease his forehead.

_Test of maturity? What the hell kind of test is that? More like test of throw you in one of the top ten deadliest places on earth and see what's left after three days._

Naruto ignored the hellos and various other greetings from the friends he passed as he emptily stared at the floor and walked and thought.

_It COULD be an adventure. Sensei said he was there a whole week and survived. But what would happen to US?_

Naruto stopped and turned to pull the hand out from his backpack. He stood in the hallway, letting others casually bump into him, as he re-read the letter.

... CLASS TRIPAttention students! Our class will camping out at the canyon known as

_Dante's Inferno. _

_In order to participate_ _in said trip, all three of your group members must sign one of these papers and return it to me._

_THIS TRIP IS OPTIONAL._

_Due to the risks and dangers involved, you may have a parent/guardian sign a note to excuse you and I will give you another assignment._

_If you do not return a note, then you will get zero credit, so talk to your other group members._

Also, the group who does the best on this assignment will receive extra credit. Some people (group 7 that means you!) need this credit to get your grades up.

_IMMEDIATELY after school Friday, meet in my classroom with your group if you wish to participate. Transportation will be provided. You will be blindfolded and driven to a location known only by Kakashi Sensei, where you will be dropped off. _

_Each group will be alone in a different location._

_This brings us to Wal-Mart. Your list of supplies will be found at the spot you are dropped off at, and you will be free to use them as you wish._

_You will be picked up and taken home (or to the morgue) the same time you are dropped off Friday, on Sunday. _

_That is all_

_~Hatake Kakashi_

_..._

Naruto re-read the letter several times in disbelief. Was this legal? It wasn't following the curriculum, that was for sure. Then again, not much of what his Sensei did was…

With a sigh, Naruto put the paper away and shook his head, a smile spreading across his face. _If this doesn't kill me, at least it will mean I get to spend the weekend with Sasuke and Sakura. That should be fun._

And lingering on that thought, the blonde hurried to his next class.

Later….

Sasuke exited the school building, as usual. School was over and he was headed home, but for some reason Naruto was standing on the edge of school grounds, looking for something. _Or someone_, he thought, as Naruto waved and hurried over towards him.

"Sasuke! I was just looking for you!"

"Oh really? I couldn't tell."

"What do you…"

"Never mind. What did you want?"

"Hold on a sec, I need to find Sakura first."

"Sakura…" Sasuke watched in confusion as Naruto scanned the crowd of students for pink hair, and it wasn't long till he found it.

"SAKURAAAA!!!" yelled Naruto; loud enough so that several people turned and stared to see what this strange, blue-eyed person was yelling about.

Sakura looked up from a conversation with some other girl to see who had called her name, and when she saw Naruto, she shook her head, saying something to the girl, and weaved through the crowd towards him and Sasuke.

"What's up?" said Sakura.

"Yeah, really Naruto. I have homework so hurry up."

"Okay, okay. I was just wondering what you guys thought about the trip for this weekend."

"You mean you were actually _considering_ it?!" stammered Sakura, shock blatant on her face. "I mean, we could use extra credit, but Naruto! It's _dangerous_!"

"Sorry Naruto, but I have to agree with Sakura on this one. It sounds dangerous and unpleasant. Besides, there's a make-up assignment anyway. Let's just not go."

Naruto opened his mouth, and then closed it. After thinking for a moment, a wicked grin overtook his face and he leaned over to Sakura and whispered into her ear, "You know it would just be you, me, and Sasuke out there. Say I was to, oh, I don't know, go look for shelter somewhere. That would leave you and Sasuke alone. In a dangerous place. Romantic atmosphere, huh?"

Sakura blushed and sucked in a lungful of air. "YOU REALLY THINK SO?" she squeaked. Seeing his clear victory, Naruto grinned and nodded his head repeatedly.

Sasuke let his confusion show on his face, looking back and forth from a squealing Sakura to a triumphant Naruto.

"What just happened?" he asked, cautiously.

"I think we should go," replied Sakura, enthusiastically. Sasuke looked to Naruto, a suspicious expression on his face. Palms up in an attempt to look harmless, Naruto chuckled and said, "Hey, man, I just know her well, that's all. Besides, think about it. It could be an adventure!"

Sasuke scowled at Naruto and put his palm on his forehead, in an attempt to look extremely frustrated. "Something is going to go extremely wrong and its all most likely going to be _your_ fault," he said to Naruto, who just let his grin widen.

"SO YOUR GOING?!?!?" shrieked Sakura. Sasuke sighed and shrugged, and began to mumble something about not having much of a choice when Sakura cut him off halfway by wrapping herself around him in an enormous hug. Their little group was beginning to draw the attention of innocent passerby's. Sakura especially.

As Sasuke peeled off Sakura, Naruto retrieved his hand out from earlier. After they had all signed it, Naruto ran inside to give it to Kakashi Sensei.

End Flashback

They had all met up in the classroom just a few hours ago. They had driven out here without a problem. There were only two other groups, Ino Shikamaru Choji and Hinata Kiba Shino, so their hopes had been high about winning the extra credit.

After being the last ones dropped off, however, they noticed they were in the middle of a giant canyon, the bottom dry, and the walls a burnt reddish color. Or at least that's what they thought it would look like in the sun. But it was raining. Pouring to be exact. Nothing had much color.

To make things worse, it seems _someone _had made a list of their own. In that fateful moment when Kiba and Akamaru had bumped into them, three lists had gone flying. Kiba had picked up his list, but handed Sakura Naruto's grocery list, and Naruto had accidentally snagged their groups supply list.

So that is why they all, rather than trying to find someplace dry, stood like a bunch of idiots and stared at the contents of Naruto's list.

"I told you something would go extremely wrong. I also told you it would be your fault," said Sasuke, icily.

Naruto and Sakura had hunched over into nearly identical postures that indicated their depression, most likely caused by the resentment that dripped from Sasuke's comment.

"There's nothing we can do by staying here. Naruto, carry the ramen in your jacket, or something. I can carry the water. We are going to go find some shelter."

Since it was the weekend, they were all wearing casual clothes. Naruto partially unzipped his sweatshirt, and started stuffing ramen bowls between his shirt and the jacket. Sakura knelt down with a smile, and began helping him.

"Might as well make the most of this!" she said contently. This caused Naruto to look at Sasuke, to see what had happened, and then he realized why she was so happy.

Sasuke, like himself, was wearing a white tee shirt under his sweatshirt. The sweatshirt having been removed to use as a sling for the water bottles, rain was allowed to soak through and reveal every inch of the long stretch of sexy that made up his upper body.

Naruto blinked and realized he was staring, and then blushed and turned away to collect the remaining ramen bowls. He definitely wasn't thinking those thoughts about Sasuke.

The bowls collected, he stood and hurried ahead of Sasuke, who had already started walking, make-shift sling held over his shoulder, leaving his arm in a position that caused most of his muscles to bunch in a way that made Naruto's stomach tighten. Even that glance, he realized, had been a mistake.

He began to run, looking ridiculous as he tried to keep the ramen containers from spilling out of his jacket.

"Oi, Naruto! Where the hell are you going?" yelled Sasuke over the pounding rain.

Naruto said something about going ahead to find shelter, but didn't dare look back to make sure Sasuke heard. He needed to get away from Sasuke. This canyon was making him crazy, and if he didn't watch out, he might loose control of himself and do something impulsive and ridiculous. And it would probably be something that he would deeply, sorely regret.


	8. Nocturnal Emissions

**Im BACK!! Sorry its been so long u'...... So, story is starting to get quicker paced (I think) but then again, the rest of it is still in my head, so it might only seem like that for me XD. BTW: I would sell my soul to have Kadaj's hair. Problem being it has already been stollen by my pyromaniac ghey luva! hmm.... so sad, so sadd....**

Naruto allowed himself collapse inside a cave. He wheezed for a few moments, before peering over his shoulder, and let a sigh of relief escape him when he couldn't see his two friends.

_Friends… _thought Naruto, cautiously. He rolled the word over his tongue, as if he could taste it. _Normally friends don't think like that about each other, right?_ He continued.

Running a shaky hand through his damp hair, Naruto allowed the wall of the cave to support him, and slid to the floor.

_We haven't been here ten minutes and I'm already screwing things up. Sasuke probably thinks I'm being an idiot, and Sakura… oh god. If she knew what I had been thinking back there, all my dignity would be forfeit. Hell, I messed this up before we even got here!_

Head now between his knees, Naruto rocked forward, groaning from thinking too hard, and let his eyelids fall shut.

Pretending he hadn't just resorted to fetal position, the boy composed himself with a simple _it was nothing, I'm probably just sick._

Naruto decided to ignore everything and shove everything that had happened in the past hour to the back of his head. Looking around his newfound shelter, his blue eyes grew in the darkness to absorb the little light needed to see it was fairly spacious and would fit all three of his group comfortably. They could even put a fire towards the opening.

As he looked around, nothing else was note-worthy. He decided to do something useful until his comrades caught up with him, and left the cave to go find some firewood, and possibly a way to light it.

...

Sasuke and Sakura walked into a small cave. They had assumed this is where Naruto would be, but when they went inside, they found it empty. To one side, they did find a pile of ramen bowls, evidence that Naruto had been there.

Sakura was adding hers to the pile when Sasuke said, "Man, where did that idiot go in a storm like this? He's going to get sick, lost, or fall off a cliff and die. And why did he just run off like that? What the hell…"

Sakura stared at Sasuke for a moment, wordlessly. The boy began to pace nervously, and if she stared hard enough, the air seemed to shimmer with his agitation. Sasuke's eyes flicked quickly over to her, "What?" he spat dully.

Sakura blinked and shook her head a bit before replying, "I think that's the largest amount of words I've ever heard you say at one time."  
Sasuke's rhythm faltered for a moment, but he recovered and walked across the cave to sit adjacent from her. "Was it?" he asked, simply to fill the silence.

Sakura drew her knees up under her chin, and looked at him for a moment, as if she was trying to mentally force him to _get_ something.

"Stop looking at me like that. _I'M _not the idiot in this three-some," said Sasuke sharply, drawing a grin from Sakura.

"You really have no idea do you?"

"About what?"

"Why Naruto ran off like that. Why he's probably out in the rain right now. Did you really not see him?" now Sakura was beginning to inch forward with excitement.

"If you have something to say just say it" scoffed Sasuke, but his voice was less confident than before. Had there been something obvious he had missed?

With a giggle, the pink-haired girl re-situated herself against the cave wall, satisfied with his response. "This is great. You really don't know anything. Then again, Naruto himself probably doesn't know either…" Sakura paused to think, drawing a confused look from Sasuke. "Well first of all, ever since he went running off you haven't shut up about him."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "what are you implying?"

Sakura made an exasperated noise and waved her hand in the air, as if to wipe it clean. "Never mind. Just shut up and let me sleep until Naruto gets back. Wake me up then, though, because I want to see what happens!"

Before Sasuke could reply, she lay down and rolled over so her back was facing him. _She just told ME to shut up. Isn't she supposed to be in love with me or something? One would think a girl who 'loves' them would treat them better._

Sasuke looked out the opening of the cave into the rainstorm and thought, _Jesus, you idiot, look what you've done? Sakura is acting strange, so you better hurry your ass up so you can explain them to me!_

As if summoned by telepathy, Naruto walked into the cave. He was carrying an armful of dry sticks, kept out of the rain by his jacket, which was covering them. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, inquiring what he was doing.

"I thought we could make a fire," said Naruto, grinning like an idiot. He dumped his find onto the floor in the center of the cave, and stood back. "The only problem," he continued, "is that I don't have a way to light them."

Sasuke fished in his back pocket and drew out a lighter. Naruto gave an interrogating look, and knowing he probably shouldn't ask, did anyway. "Sasuke, why do you have a lighter in your pocket?"

Sasuke gave him a blank face, that was definitely NOT reassuring, then stood up and handed it to him, leaving the question unanswered. "No" said Naruto, giving it back to him. "I don't want to burn myself, you do it." Sasuke took the lighter wordlessly.

Naruto watched as Sasuke started arranging the sticks into a pile. Then he took one smaller stick out of the pile, and flipped open the lighter.

"What are you doing?" asked Naruto, who was now sitting.

Sasuke's eyes flicked to him, but only for a moment. "Lighting it," he said, but his voice was strangely dark, and sounded like he would enjoy it.

"What are you going to do with the rest?" asked Naruto, a little more afraid.

"Light 'em," replied Sasuke, without any glance this time, a sadistic grin spreading over his face.

Naruto swallowed hard before saying, "shouldn't we save some to add to the fire later?"

Sasuke paused in the middle of lighting the piece of severed shrub, and glared at him…hard.

"Oh my god. You are a freaking pyro and we're all going to die!" shrieked the blonde, as he stood up, pointing an accusatory finger at Sasuke.

Sakura, who had miraculously slept through this, sat up to see Naruto pointing and shouting at Sasuke, who was holding fire and a stick.

"I thought I told you to wake me up," she said, a bit annoyed but mostly watching the two boys in front of her.

"You were only out about two seconds before this one showed up with a load of firewood. Trust me. You haven't missed anything."

Sakura shrugged and stood up, yawning, and poked Naruto in the temple. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!" he demanded.

"Shut up and let him light the fire," she said, and walked toward the entrance of the cave. "I'm going to pee. I'll be right back."

"Too much information," mumbled Naruto, still watching Sasuke, who was lighting each stick, branch and log individually.

"So…" said Naruto. The boy began to rock back and forth on his heels, not sure what to start a conversation about.

"Did you say anything to Sakura?" asked Sasuke, vision still honed on the fire he was building.

"… What do you mean?"

"Did you tell her something that would give her strange ideas?"

"Sasuke, you've been with her since we got here. When would I have had an opportunity to say anything you wouldn't have heard?"

Sasuke sat back, admiring his twisted creation, and remembered Sakura mentioning Naruto running off.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you run off?"

The two boys stared at each other through the flames, Naruto having sat down, causing orange light and shadows to dance over their faces.

"Uhh… Because… Because I promised Sakura I'd give you two some 'alone time' while we were here?" he replied too quickly.

Sasuke, not buying the blatant lie, chose to ignore it and lay down to sleep.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

No answer.

The blonde rested his head against the cold, damp floor of the cave, assuming Sasuke had simply been tired and fallen asleep quickly.

A few minutes later, in a low voice, he whispered to himself, "The truth is, I ran away because I love you."

Sasuke, who had actually still been awake, drew in a sharp breath, having heard Naruto's ellipses. His face was burning up, and not because of the fire. The loquacious little blonde and him had only recently become friends. Not to mention they were both men.

Thoughts racing through his head, sleep couldn't find Sasuke. Hours passed as the fire died down, and though he wasn't even sure it was night yet, the exhaustion from the day suddenly swept him into a dreamless slumber.

**Dont worry! we are getting closer to something ACTUALLY happening! Plot will pick up in next chapter (which i will make sure takes less than a month to post XD). Meanwhile, Ill be listening to the Constantinople song and dancing around my room in my underwear. What else is there to do with the weekend??**


	9. Finally Some Action

**HELLOOOOOO!!! Sorry I havn't updated in so long! busy busy busy! Went to Sakura con and had a blast! (strongly suggests you look up sora the explorer on youtube). Also, guess what I crossplayed as on two of the three days...? NARUTO! And guess what I'm listening to now....? VIVA ROCK! FROM NARUTO! Tehe Im such a Narutard. I also have this SUPER EPICLY AWESUM NaruxSasu pic from one of the artists booths. Thank you artist whose name I don't know because I was too busy looking at your beautiful artwork!!!!! haha, but don't wory, I do like other anime/manga too. Mostly bloody stuff. That makes up most of my favorites (Naruto, bloody stuff) he he *nervous laugh* I AM NOT A SOCIOPATH!!!!! NAO REVIEW!**

It was cold. I mean night, and a storm outside, can have that effect when one is sleeping in a cave, but it felt like there was some other element to this that Naruto couldn't quite place his finger on.

With a moan, he rolled over. _What the hell is that?_ The blonde sat up, his hand drawn to his side in an automatic motion, and found that he had been sleeping in a puddle.

"AHH! Son of a bitch!" he cursed, stirring Sasuke on the other side of the now-dead fire.

"What's wrong?" he asked, blinking as his eyes focused.

"Look! I'm SOAKED!"

Staring at Naruto, Sasuke realized that he was sitting in water too. In a slow, drowsy motion, he raised his head to look past the boy, to the mouth of the cave, where he saw the rain still pouring.

"I think we should leave", he said, turning back to Naruto.

"Well, no shit! There's no way we could stay in here if we're just going to get all wet!"

"Well yeah, but I think its going to get worse. We should look for someplace with higher elevation so that if it floods we won't get caught up in it."

"Oh… Right. Okay, where's the ramen? Ill just get that and we'll head out."

Simultaneously, both looked to the pile and let their expressions deteriorate to scowls as they saw the now-soaked ramen bowls that were obviously ruined.

"I guess no ramen then… well the three of us will just have to live off the land!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto. Something was off about what he had just said. What was wrong with this situation?

"…Hey, where's Sakura?" asked Sasuke.

They both looked around to come to realize that Sakura hadn't come back last night.

"Shit." Said the blonde, looking to Sasuke. "We can't just leave! If she comes back she wont know where we went!"

"I know, but she went to the _bathroom_. It doesn't take several hours to find a friggen' bush and come back. She must have gotten lost in this weather or something."

"So we have to go find her." Naruto stated.

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

Naruto stretched widely as Sasuke lifted himself out of the miniature lake that was ever-growing larger. Their fire, put out by the flooded rainwater, left the cave murky, and obscured objects to look much stranger than they were. The two boys met at the mouth of the cave, and received a blinding flash of lightning, leaving both slightly dizzy and temporarily visually handicapped.

They forged the storm together, which was terrible. The wind was cutting through their clothes as if they weren't even there, though the fact that they were soaked didn't help and the rain made sure it would stay that way. Outside everything was in chaos. Smaller trees had been blown over, and branches were haphazardly strewn everywhere. The worst part, that made them both hesitate, was that the water outside was up to their ankles. The canyon was flooding.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand, "Come on, I have a bad feeling about this."

The blonde pulled Sasuke along, and as he stared at the hand grabbing his, Sasuke felt his face get hot as he remembered what he had heard last night.

He started to squirm with discomfort, and Naruto noticed, glancing back briefly with a questioning look. Seeing his hand over Sasuke's he slowed his pace and eventually stopped so that they were both staring at their conjoined hands.

Naruto swallowed hard. "I-I should probably let go." He said, but neither moved.

"Umm.."

"Stupid." Sasuke said, breaking the hold to bump Naruto's shoulder and continue walking while the blonde practically fell over as he scrambled to catch up.

What just happened? Naruto thought he had fixed this. Shoving any and all possibly existing feelings for Sasuke into the back of his mind had seemed like such a fail-proof plan last night. But watching the boy walk in front of him now, soaked by the rain, hair matted to his head from the weight of water, looking like a model for a goddamn add for rain itself! he couldn't help but _want _to think about it now.

It was Sasuke's turn to glance back, looking somewhat worried, "What?" he said plainly.

"Oh! Nothing" Naruto blurted a little too fast.

Looking at the ground, Sasuke had to focus on his feet to keep from spinning on his heel and running away. It was beginning to get very difficult to ignore that Naruto had accidentally confessed the night before.

Rain attacking them from the sky, and occasional thunder and lightning splitting the sky in two, the pair walked. And walked. And walked… but where the hell was that damned girl?

"Hey, I think we should turn here", Naruto said as they came up to a fork in the canyon. "There are some trees over there that she might have gone to... well, you know."

Silently, Sasuke turned and led the way over to the small rise of land, one of the few spots not completely submerged in water, which was covered in trees and might also provide a place to stay until the end of this stupid project.

"There!" Naruto pointed to a small pink figure up against a tree, they both sprinted to Sakura, because she wasn't moving, and even in fan fiction that's never a good sign.

"Sakura!" Naruto threw himself down next to her frail figure, which seemed so cold and still that it sent a sharp pang of fear through both of them.

Sasuke knelt down and slid pale fingers over her dainty wrist, putting his opposite palm on her forehead.

Sasuke let a sigh of relief escape him as Naruto looked up hopefully, "She's alright. She's just unconscious."

"Maybe this was the cause?" Naruto held up a beastly-looking branch that was gnarled and had so many knots it looked like it could be lethal. Not to mention it was thicker than his arm, and pretty heavy.

"Ah. That would explain things. But she does have a fever."

The two looked down at their friend, relieved that she wasn't seriously hurt. With the adrenaline from panic dieing down, they began to notice that Sakura had broken out into a cold sweat, and her face was sickly pale.

"Shit." Naruto stood up, running his hands nervously through his yellow locks.

"Lets move her up further. How about under those trees over there?" Sasuke pointed to a grouping of large oaks that looked sturdy enough to not crush them in their sleep. It was probably still the middle of the night.

"Ill carry her", said Naruto, and bent down to scoop her up, as if she weighed nothing.

Sasuke chuckled and looked at Naruto, "You know? I actually think I may like Sakura more when she's unconscious. She's really cute when she's dead to the world. Especially since she's not talking."

Naruto looked from Sasuke to Sakura, eyes suddenly serious and slightly worried. A pained expression slid across his face unknowingly and when he looked back to Sasuke, the dark haired boy was staggered from the sight of pain in that face.

"Not that I actually like her or anything!" scrambled Sasuke, realizing what that may have sounded like to Naruto.

The blonde stiffened and looked very intensely at the ground, "Not that I would care if you did."

"Oh. Y-yeah." Why did he have to say that? Things would be fine, and then he kept making them awkward. Sasuke was confused about this, and then the horrible voice that tells you what you never want to know about yourself came into his head and whispered, _but if you don't like him, why should you care what he thinks?_

Naruto carried Sakura, dripping and feverish, to the spot previously decided on. In her pitiful state, she subconsciously clung to Naruto for warmth, and began to shiver so badly that Naruto feared he would drop her. He hurriedly set her down on a clear patch of earth, one of the few that was near to being completely dry, and took off his hoodie. Looking at Sasuke, the blond brushed back the water that had begun to stream into his eyes.

"Give me your sweatshirt", Naruto demanded. Sasuke did as he was told without hesitation.

The boy weighed the two, after wringing them out, and decided that his was warmer. He put his sweatshirt on her, and wrapped Sasuke's into a makeshift pillow, which he carefully placed under her head.

Stepping back to take a look, Sasuke knelt down in his place.

"Any better?" asked the blonde.

"A bit…. But it's not enough. She's still shivering and her skin feels like ice."

"Well we could sleep near her for warmth?"

"Uhmmm, no. First of all, she would use it against me. Second, she would sue you for sexual harassment."

"Good point. But what else can we do? None of us expected the rain, so unless you want me to strip down to boxers, there's nothing I can do!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto very directly. Naruto blushed and turned slightly, scrapping his foot against the ground, "Don't tell me you _seriously_ plan to ask me to do that!"

Sakura moaned in her sleep, drawing the attention back to her. Her body released another violent shiver, as if something was alive inside of her and wanted to tear its way out.

"She's sweating again, and her fever is worse." Sasuke looked back to Naruto, "I know we've been having some issues lately, but this is for her safety. Now just take your goddamn pants off!"

Before long, both boys were sitting on the ground in nothing but boxers and undershirts that were so wet that they really didn't exist. Naruto sat next to Sakura, who had stopped shivering after they added Sasuke's jacket and the pants to a makeshift sleeping bag. Sasuke, sitting in front of a tree opposite to him, was hugging himself and shivering from the cold.

"You know, if you built up some muscle, or ate enough to keep you fat, you wouldn't be so cold," said Naruto.

The statement was so unexpected, considering the situation, that Sasuke couldn't resist looking up at Naruto, "Well its not like you're fat. And don't try to tell me you have tons of muscle because you were out of breath just from carrying your backpack to lunch and home the other day!"

"What if I told you I have asthma?"

"I wouldn't believe you. You're probably just as cold as I am!"

"…"

"…"

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I go sit by you?"

Naruto was looking down, his face red from blushing. "J-just to get warmer, that is."

Sasuke sighed and slid over, making room for Naruto in front of his tree. "Sure."

Naruto's face lit up into a smile as he scrambled across the damp earth and plopped onto the seat provided by Sasuke.

Naruto leaned carefully on Sasuke, careful not to do anything too much. The two sat together for a short while in silence before Sasuke sighed and grabbed Naruto by the waist, drawing a yelp from the blonde, and said, "Get closer, or getting warmer isn't going to happen!" They ended up settled with Naruto's arm around Sasuke's shoulders, and Sasuke's arm behind Naruto's back.

_He's so warm,_ thought Sasuke, _Jesus! He could sell himself as a heater…With this much heat, it makes me feel so nice…_

Naruto looked down with a start to find Sasuke asleep in his lap. He reached down to move him, but the boy on his lap snuggled closer and smiled in his sleep at the warmth. Naruto smirked at Sasuke, and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

This would be fine. Two men, alone in the woods, wearing little more than their underwear, in the pouring rain, trying to keep warm. Yes, that was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he was holding a sleeping Sasuke, and both of them were half-naked. Besides, _Sasuke_ hadbeen the one who told him to take his pants off! THIS WAS NOT RAPE!

Naruto gave in and, not for the fist time in his life, ignored the little red flag in his head, and laid down closer to Sasuke, so that he could hold him closer to his chest. _To keep us both warm_ is what he kept telling himself. But it wasn't what it really meant to him. The growing bulge in his shorts confirmed that.

As the rain slowed to a drizzle, and the storm grew quiet, Naruto and Sasuke slept together for the first time, both sopping wet, and nearly naked, and perfectly content to stay that way.

Early in the morning, Sasuke felt his mind slipping from dream state and more into consciousness. He noticed how warm he felt and remembered falling asleep on Naruto the night before, which caused him to stiffen and his eyes to fly open.

His companion moaned in protest and drew Sasuke in closer, so that the lines of their bodies were pressed together. This was slightly different from where he remembered last.

Letting out a calming breath, the black haired boy composed himself and turned slowly so that he could face Naruto, trying not to wake him. He had quite a difficult time doing this, though, because to his surprise, Naruto had quite a strong grip.

He looked up the boy's arms and noticed his natural tan. Not anything dark, but a light hinting towards the kind of skin that goes instantly tan if you put it in the sun. And underneath that skin, there were, to his surprise, plenty of muscles. Maybe Naruto actually did have asthma? Who knew, but looking up the swell of his arm and the curve of his jaw, Sasuke lost himself in the peaceful expression on his blonde's face as he slept.

His? It sounded so right. Sasuke pushed to raise himself up and, having no trouble moving this time, brought his face closer to the other boy's. He lingered in the closeness, feeling the boy's sweet breath on his face, before going that last distance and pressing his lips to Naruto's.

Naruto could smell it coming before he could feel it. As sleep began to drift away, he became more aware of the smell of rain coming from Sasuke's hair, and the fact that the boy in his arms was awake and moving. As he felt lips against his, he opened his eyes and found Sasuke's face in front of his. With a simple grin, he startled Sasuke into pulling back and franticly trying to say something, but he wasn't finished.

"Shut up", said Naruto. Sasuke closed his mouth and felt his eyes grow wide as Naruto grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. The blonde smiled mischievously, and let it grow wider when Sasuke blushed.

"I think I get it now," said the blonde.

"What?" Sasuke asked, not sure where this was going.

"Why this whole trip has had us both acting so strangely. I love you."

With this, Naruto wasted no time in pushing Sasuke to the ground, so that he was straddling him. Looking into those blue eyes, which were growing darker with something he had caused himself, Sasuke felt the last bit of worry slide away as he put his arm around Naruto's neck and whispered, "I know", and drew them both into another, more active kiss.


	10. Dream? Or Reality?

**Hey All! I know its been months, but I've been busy and just couldn't decide on how to end this lovely tale... Until, that is, I actually sat down and tried to write it. Don't hate! I was thinking about the gay clowns from yugioh abridged.... Rediculous. **

First experiences happen to everyone. They are the memories that you snag and lock away to keep as good stories, or not so good stories, until you die. Sakura, at the moment, wished this wasn't how it worked. Even though she had sort of known, and even approved, of their growing relationship, even though her inner fan girl was doing a happy dance, and even though they were her friends, it was still an extremely rude awakening to have a couple of passionate, gay men roll on top of.

That, unfortunately, was how her day had started off. With a headache that 'sledgehammer to head' wouldn't do justice, Sakura had been none too cruel after she had woken up. She made it her priority to give Naruto and Sasuke nothing but shit until further notice, as payment for her oh so unfortunate awaking. I mean, have you ever woken up to naked gays performing nefarious deeds on top of you? Okay, mostly naked. The important stuff was covered, but she could've sworn it was Naruto that had drooled on her hand, definitely not morning dew.

However, seeing as they had pretty much saved her a trip to the hospital for hypothermia and possibly worse, she paid them back by keeping her mouth shut to the oh so perceptive Ino about why she was in such a mood after they had been found and picked up by Kakashi and friends…

And that is why they currently sat in the same van that had driven them to the canyon in utter silence. The tension seemed thick enough to cut with a knife as Kakashi drove, Sasuke and Naruto sat together in the back, and everyone else filled up in between.

"So," began Kakashi. Several people winced at the discomfort ushered in by the awkwardness, "in case you didn't guess it, team seven won. I mean, clearly since they were the only group to stay out the entire night," Kakashi met eyes with the three winners via rear-view window, "Even if it was just because we couldn't find you."

Sakura grinned for the first time that morning, obviously excited over the extra credit. This immediately lightened up the atmosphere and while Shikamaru and Kiba grumbled over the loss, Sasuke and Naruto celebrated with shouts and laughter from the back row.

Hinata raised her head at the noise, looking to the boys. "Naruto-kun, you and Sasuke-kun seem to be getting along much better. This trip must have been good for you?"

Once again, silence filled the van as if a switch had been hit. Sakura made the only noise, grumbling something along the lines of, "You have no idea".

Sasuke looked at Naruto, who looked at Hinata and grinned, ignoring the atmosphere. "I found out that I'm actually gay for Sasuke but it's okay because gay for me too and then we made out but we accidentally woke up Sakura who had a massive headache from the tree branch last night and that's why she's being such a bitch right now and now he's my boyfriend."

For the third time that car ride, silence. "Wait WHAT?" Kakashi hit the brakes at a red light he had almost run. Horns screamed at him from all directions as he nervously made apologetic gestures, meanwhile everyone went back to staring at Naruto.

"Did you just say I was your boyfriend?" asked Sasuke. Naruto turned back to him, "Well, yeah. Why?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, only slightly annoyed at his dobe boyfriend's assumption and total lack of self-consciousness. "Nothing," he replied.

"Well, since you guys blazed the trail," began Shikamaru, "Choji?" the larger boy looked at him with ever-growing eyes, "Uhhmmm yeah?"

"I love you, man" the scrawnier boy pulled the larger into a kiss as Sasuke gaped, what the hell?

"Actually, Sakura chan" Hinata looked up from her hands. "You don't even have to say it," replied the pink-haired one, starting their own something from the row behind Shikamaru and Choji.

"Kiba kun?" Ino looked hopefully to the other boy in the car.

"Oh, hell no. In case you didn't notice, this is a gay thing. Sorry."

Ino made a face and pouted, inching ever closer to the window as Hinata and Sakura invaded her personal bubble.

"Why? Wh-what the hell?" Sasuke sat astonished as their friends got together with each other. What was happening?

"Haha, don't you know Sasuke? We've entered a gay-mobile. It happens a lot these days, or so I'm told."

Sasuke stared at Naruto. Was he that stupid?

"Oh you don't know? It happens when too many people are stuffed into one car, that's why clowns are always…"

"Shut up." Sasuke interjected. Yeah, he was.

"Well, while we're all at it," Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, dialing a number from memory and holding it to his ear. "Iruka? Hey, it's Kakashi. Don't worry the kids are all fine; I just wanted to call to let you know… I love you."

What was happening? Why was everyone acting like this? Sasuke's head swam and his vision blurred… What the hell?

Then… Black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thump. Sasuke felt his face kiss the floor none to gently when he landed. He looked up, heart racing, and felt sweat beading his forehead and the back of his neck. Looking up and around, he let out a relaxing breath. He was home. It was a dream. The cozy wooden apartment he lived in seemed to comfort him out of his nervous state.

_What the hell kind of dream was that??_

There was a knock on the door. Sasuke bolted up and looked at the clock by his bed. His clock read 2:07 am. Shit. So that's why his alarm didn't go off… damn power outage…

There was a knock again, and this time Sasuke pushed himself up past the tangle of sheets that had fallen with him. He grasped the doorknob and turned, only to be knocked over as a certain blonde pushed through and sent him flying.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cried. He was a blur of orange as he flung himself onto the boy who was now on the floor for the second time that morning. It was too early for this.

Sasuke blinked. It was too soon after his dream. This was awkward, but he could always direct his discomfort towards anger.

"Dobe!" Sasuke shoved Naruto off of him and rolled him over, claiming top.

"Why the hell are you at my house?" he fumed, Naruto simply ignored his mood, grinning.

"Kakashi-sensei sent me. You aren't the type to be late so he was worried. But even _I_ wasn't late today. How could you have forgotten?"

Naruto had sat up, Sasuke practically sitting on his lap, and so that they were face to face. Sasuke blinked. Why was today important? He honestly couldn't remember anything past his dream…

"You even had Sakura-chan and I worried! We thought maybe you had run off… or something."

Sasuke looked back to Naruto, who had gone all gloomy. Why would he have left? Oh… that's right. Yesterday Naruto had been being his annoying self and taken things a bit too far and he had threatened to leave the village and go to complete his goal alone.

"Naruto, you're being stupid. Now tell me what are we doing today?"

Naruto, energy renewed, flashed a toothy smile at him, "I sooo can't believe you forgot. Today's our first mission! I mean, our first _real_ mission. We talked to the Hokage already and he gave us some dumb escort mission for some stupid bridge builder, but still!" He grabbed Sasuke and began shaking him, "This is our first real mission!!!"

Oh. Right. Sasuke punched Naruto, sending him to the floor. He got up, brushing the dust off himself. He glanced at the picture next to his broken clock, the one of team seven, and smirked. "Baaaaaaaka."

Naruto stood up, and hurried out, waiting for Sasuke to get his things so they could leave. Sasuke locked the door behind him and lead the way out towards where Kakashi and Sakura were apparently waiting. He would have to apologize for being so late…

"Sasuke?"

The Raven-haired ninja spun around, bracing for something stupid that would be typical of the blonde, but the look on his face stopped him.

Naruto strode up to Sasuke, stopping just before they touched, "I love you".

Naruto pressed his lips to Sasuke's, demanding him to give in. The reacting curl of his lips into a sly smile made the blonde hesitate. He pulled back, blue eyes looking into black.

"Sasuke, I said I love you."

Sasuke grinned, "I know."

The End

**And... That's a wrap! I'm going to miss it *tear*.. oh well! Anyways tell me what you think. This is the first fic I've semi-tried to maintain a plot for. I have an Inuyasha fic but plan on deleting it since it is an abomination. I have a couple other Fics started and if you like my writing I suggest you put me on your author-alert list. The more I get the sooner I'll start posting :E**

**Thanks for reading!! Thanks double for reviewing!!**


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